


Son of the Father (Must Also Rise)

by gingerpolyglot



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Captain Cobra - Freeform, Captain Cobra Swan, Henry learns about Neal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-03-22 10:49:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13762521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingerpolyglot/pseuds/gingerpolyglot
Summary: The thing is, it's not like he doesn't know he's the result of a teen pregnancy. But still. It's one thing to know intellectually that Emma was the Savior prophesied to break the curse on her 28th birthday, and him finding her when he was ten meant that she couldn't have been older than 18 when she had him. It's another thing entirely to understand what that means.Or, Henry finally gets the full story about his parents, and comes to terms with it with a little help from his family.





	Son of the Father (Must Also Rise)

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally about Henry apologizing to Emma for how he reacted to the revelation about Neal and Emma lying to him, but it sort of got away from me. Title stolen from an episode of Doctor Who.

The thing is, it's not like he doesn't know he's the result of a teen pregnancy. Emma had sat him down shortly after his first kiss with Violet and given him a very thorough talk about condoms and safe sex and consent (though honestly, as awkward as it had been he was secretly glad it had been Emma and not David or Hook, who probably would have used a lot of bad sword or sailing metaphors) and he'd been painfully aware of her personal experience with the matter.

But still. It's one thing to know intellectually that Emma was the Savior prophesied to break the curse on her 28th birthday, and him finding her when he was ten meant that she couldn't have been older than 18 when she had him. It's another thing entirely to understand what that means, so when he overhears his moms talking one evening at family dinner at the farmhouse it hits him hard. 

"He's gotten so big," Regina sighs over her glass of wine. "What happened to the little boy who stole his teacher's credit card?" 

Emma chuckles, and he imagines she's picturing him barging into her Boston apartment and rummaging through her fridge for juice. "He's seventeen now," she says quietly. "He's as old as I was when I had him."

Henry had really only been half paying attention, more focused on watching his toddler uncle play with Killian's necklaces, much to the pirate's chagrin. But Emma's statement catches him off guard and it takes several minutes for him to recover. He doesn't hear the rest of their conversation, but he can't imagine it would throw him for more of a loop.

Lying in bed at Regina's house later that night, he tries to picture Violet telling him she's pregnant. He's immediately gripped with an overwhelming sense of panic. They're just kids, there's no way they're mature enough to handle a baby. And yet, a voice in his head whispers, they'd have an entire town to lean on and support them if it did happen. Emma hadn't had that. 

(He forgets, sometimes. His mom is so loving and she cares so much about everyone, and he forgets that for all Regina wasn't the best mother before the curse broke, he always had a home. Emma's words from so long ago about being given up ring in his ears, and the seventeen year old hears the pain the ten year old couldn't process.) 

He wonders how his dad would have reacted for a minute, before he pictures Neal's face in the apartment in New York so long ago. Abruptly Henry realizes he still doesn't know the whole story of what happened between his parents. In his fake memories from the year in New York, all he knew was that Emma didn't know where his dad was, and that she'd tell him what happened when he was older.

_Well_ , he thinks to himself, _if Mom was old enough to live through then it I'm definitely old enough to hear about it_. He resolves to ask her about it in the morning, and tries to go to sleep.

* * *

The next day Henry gets lost in school and motorcycle lessons with August and swordfighting lessons with Killian, and it's not until he's eating dinner with him and his mom that he remembers his resolution from the night before. He hesitates for a moment, then turns to Emma. 

"Mom? I think I'm old enough to know about what happened with you and my dad."

Emma freezes, darting a helpless glance at Killian. He gives her that soft, encouraging smile and nod thing he gives her whenever she's scared, and Henry feels a rock sink into his stomach. This is not going to be a happy story. 

Emma takes a deep breath before nodding. "You're right, kid. After dinner I'll tell you about me and your dad."

Dishes cleared away and cocoa liberally dusted with cinnamon in hand, Emma seats herself on the couch and gestures for Henry to join her. Hook hovers, clearly uncertain about whether to stay or go, and the pit in Henry's stomach grows. Killian obviously knows the full story, and he's looking at Emma trying to determine if she'll need the support of her true love to get through it.

After a minute, Emma squeezes his hand and smiles at him, and Hook nods once and says something about taking a shower. Henry waits until his footsteps disappear upstairs, then turns to his mom. "So?" he asks, setting his cocoa on the coffee table to play with his hands, a trait he's sure he got from the woman in front of him. 

Emma smiles sadly at him. "I'm sorry, kid. This isn't a happy story. But you're right, you deserve to know." 

And then she tells him. He can tell she's glossing over the bit before, about how she came to be desperate enough to be breaking into a stranger's car in the first place, but he doesn't pry. It's not relevant, and it's clear this is hard enough for her as it is. She tells him everything else, though - about the stolen car, and the motel break-ins, and the convenience store cons, and the watches and the cops and the jail cell. 

She tells him about being sick every morning and the guard that took pity on her and brought her a pregnancy test, and her voice hitches when she tells him about giving birth to him and hearing him cry and not letting herself look, because, "I wanted to keep you, Henry, and if I held you I'd never let you go and I had to give you your best chance and it wasn't with me." 

She finally finishes what seems like hours later, and they're both crying. Henry doesn't even think about it, just moves so she can hug him and for a while he wants to pretend he's twelve again and knows his mom is a hero who can survive anything and he doesn't have to think about what she's had to go through to get that strong. 

After their tears are dry, Emma tells him he can talk to her if he needs to, and she'll answer any more questions he has about his dad. He nods, but he's kind of numb and doesn't really know what to say or what he'd ask.

* * *

He's sort of in a daze for the next few days. He's pretty sure his mom said something to his other mom, because Regina hugs him extra tight the next time he sees her, but to be honest he doesn't really mind. 

He goes to Neal's grave and stares at it for ages, trying to figure out what to say. He knows Neal moved on but he's not sure if that means he's more or less likely to hear him. In the end he doesn't say anything, just stands there and tries to remember the man who called him buddy and play-fought with him using practice swords and attempts to reconcile him with the man who let his mom take the fall for his crime.

In the end, it's Hook who breaks through the fog. They're taking a break from sparring on the Jolly Roger again when Henry catches sight of the compass carved next to the wheel. He remembers Hook telling him years ago that he'd done it to teach Bae how to sail, and he turns to his companion as they lean against the helm. 

"How do you do it?" he asks. Killian tilts his head. 

"How do you remember Neal so fondly when you know what he did to my mom? How do you not hate him for that?" Henry asks, beginning to pace the deck. Killian straightens, and moves closer to him. "Because he's my dad, and I love him, but I didn't really know him and now I kind of hate him too. He just betrayed Mom and abandoned her!" Henry doesn't realize he's shouting until he stops.

"I do, some days," Hook confesses. "Hate him, for what he did to your mother. The way she grew up wasn't easy, and it made it hard for her to trust, but what he did to her-" he breaks off, shaking his head with a grimace. 

"Grandma and Grandpa don't know, do they?" Henry realizes, changing tack abruptly as the thought occurs to him. 

Killian winces. "No, they don't. I think Emma was planning on telling them eventually, but..."

"But then they named my uncle after him, and she felt like she couldn't ruin the image of him as a hero," Henry finishes for him, spitting out the last word. Killian looks at him questioningly. 

"Everyone remembers him as this great hero who sacrificed himself for us, but he wasn't! A hero wouldn't do something like that, wouldn't just leave her to take the fall and then not even look for her later." Henry is still pacing, and vaguely aware that he sounds like a little kid, but he's too worked up to care. At least he's not yelling anymore.

Killian takes a moment to think before speaking carefully. "I think, lad, that it's easy in this town to get caught up in our notion of what a hero should be, and what a villain is. But it's not that simple. Your mother taught me that. Liam was my hero for centuries, even when I thought he'd despise me for what I'd become. But he was flawed, and made choices that had consequences. Your grandparents did as well. But they all tried to do the right thing and help where they could.

I thought I was too far gone to change, but since I met your mother I've been inspired to try to be the man I want to be, a better man. Neal did die a hero, Henry. He may not have been one his whole life, and he may have hurt people, but he loved you, and he died to help protect you. That's how your mother chooses to remember him, and why she let your grandparents remember him that way as well."

"And you?" Henry asks, conscious that Killian hadn't mentioned his own feelings on the matter. Killian sighs, tracing his fingers over the carved wood. 

"I cared for him as a boy, and while as a man he made mistakes he tried to do what he thought was the right thing. I can respect that, and I can respect that he loved his son fiercely. I've tried to make my peace with the boy and the man." 

Henry ponders that for a moment. "I think I need to think about it more," he says slowly. Killian regards him for a moment then nods. 

"Do what you need to do, lad. Your mother and I - not to mention Regina and your grandparents - are here for you. Now, back to your footwork?" Killian asks, changing the subject. Henry nods, grateful for the distraction. He shifts his feet and raises his sword, and they're off again. 

* * *

Henry spends the next week mulling over Killian's words. He goes back to Neal's grave once or twice, and even asks his Grandpa Gold to tell him a few stories about Bae as a kid. 

He tries to picture the boy who hated magic on the Jolly Roger, and remembers the story of how Hook sold Bae to Pan after Bae rejected him and blamed him for Grandma Milah's death. Something about that niggles, and he spends a few hours wandering around the docks trying to figure out what until it dawns on him and he rushes home.

"Mom?" Henry calls as he enters the house. 

"In here!" he hears Emma respond from the kitchen. She stirs something on the stove that he'd bet his Author's pen is hot cocoa, then turns the heat off and turns toward him. "What's up, kid?" she asks.

"I-I'm sorry," he says. Emma furrows her brow and frowns at him. 

"What for? What happened?" she asks, not mad yet but concerned. 

The words come out in a rush. 

"For blaming you. For not telling me about Dad, I mean. I was so mad at you when we found my dad and I found out that you had lied about it and I was so upset, and I called you a liar and compared you to Mom at her Evil Queen-iest, which was totally not fair. 

And after New York I think I blamed you for not keeping me, because in our cursed memories we had always done okay and it didn't really occur to me that Mom would only give us good memories and that it wasn't necessarily realistic, but you were just a teenager and if Violet told me she was pregnant I'd be so scared and we have everyone and you were alone and I'm just- I'm so sorry, Mom," he finishes, gasping a bit for air. 

He squeezes his eyes shut, trying to get a handle on himself.

"Oh, Henry," he hears her say softly, before she hugs him hard and he realizes with a start that he has to bend down a little to hug her back. 

"Henry, it's okay." He starts to protest but she shushes him. 

"Really, Henry, it's okay. You were angry, and you were so young. I told you the story about the fireman because I had no idea where Neal was and I didn't think you'd ever meet him, but I wanted you to think your dad was a good man. And I don't know if it would have been like the fake memories, if I had kept you. But you know what?" She pulls away a bit so she can look him in the eye. 

"What happened with Neal hurt. But if it hadn't happened that way, I wouldn't have you. And you never would have brought me home to my family - to our family." 

Henry smiles a bit at that. At ten years old he could never have imagined the crazy family he has now, where everyone in town is related to him and he has an uncle who's more than a decade younger than him and grandparents who look the same age as his mom. 

"Still," he says. "I'm sorry I was so awful about it." Emma smiles at him. 

"You were a child, Henry. I don't blame you. But I promise you, kid. It's all okay," she says. He hugs her again, because he can. He thinks about the motorcycle August has promised him, and the mansion filled with other storybooks. He knows he's going to leave Storybrooke soon. But maybe not yet.

* * *

 

He visits Neal's grave one last time a few days before he's set to leave Storybrooke. It's been a few months since the whole story came out, and he spent a lot of time sorting through how he feels about his dad. He looks at the simple inscription, just a name under "Beloved Son." He wonders if Neal would have wanted it to say more. He takes a deep breath, then speaks.

"I know you moved on. Mom told me you're happy, wherever you are. I don't know if you can hear me. But I want you to know I forgive you. For what you did to Mom. It was selfish and awful, but if you hadn't, I might not have my family the way it is now. So I forgive you. But I want to be better than that. You died to save us, and maybe that made up for some of it. But I want to live as a hero, not just die as one. That's the kind of man I want to be," he says.

Henry nods decisively and walks away, ready to go write his own story.

**Author's Note:**

> Going off the birthdays provided by the Once wiki, Emma's birthday is 10/22/1983 and Henry's is 8/15/2001, making Emma 17 when she got pregnant and gave birth to him. She turned 18 two months later. This also probably means she was tried as a minor (though not a guarantee, given how close she was to 18) and probably met Neal sometime before her 17th birthday.


End file.
